Tractor Big Year is me doing an hour of work every afternoon on the nitty gritty planning preparatory to publishing/producing/making my damned book when it is ready. Why do this? First, in this era of digitization, this is a fascinating topic. Second, being ready is efficient. Third, it motivates drafting.

So . . . a first issue is something I’ve never thought about before. Attempting to bring history alive, I’ll be quoting others – participants in history, commentators, other historians – as often as I can. But I can’t quote willy-nilly. When do I have to ask for permission and when might it not be necessary? In the United States, a concept that reigns is that of “fair use,” which sounds logical but how the heck do you apply it?

Brianna Schofield and Robert Walker of the Author’s Alliance have written (108-pages as a PDF) what might be a most useful guide: “Fair Use for Nonfiction Authors.” Do I need to get copyright clearance each time I quote?They say: “In some situations, unlicensed use may be legally permitted by virtue of the “fair use” doctrine, a well-known (but oft-misunderstood) limitation to copyright in the United States.”

I’m over the moon anticipating this Big Year, but it will prove to be a major challenge to fit it in and, more important, make it productive.

”Tractor” is my code word for the book, which has a working title of Reactor (you don’t use or abuse precious words like names and titles), and the idea of this Big Year is to make sure I rigorously pursue the mechanics of self publication. What outlets will I use? How will I ensure there is a physical book as well as an ebook? How does one format an ebook, especially a complex one? Pricing? What cover design is best? What about copyright of the many quotes I plan to use throughout my book? And so on . . .

I could wait until the words are written (and I know some of you would tell me I shouldn’t let anything distract me from drafting). Instead my Big Year involves me spending one hour, no more, no less, each and every afternoon (except for some “off” weeks travelling), researching, exploring, readying, experimenting, etc.

I don’t expect the Tractor Big Year to be simple to achieve (my afternoons are nearly full!) or straightforward (what exactly am I to do and how do I ensure I don’t just pfaff around?). But I’ll try to excite myself daily and thrown myself in hard.

I can’t wait for 2018! So much is going on in the lives of me and my family and friends. For the third Big Year (I’m turning 63 next year) in my Big Decade, I’ll swing at four obsessions. They range from all-consuming to “should be simple to fit in.” Not all details are settled yet but here’s 2018’s framework (beyond the joy of life itself):

1,000 Big Year

The nuclear power history book is still my albatross. After a maddeningly ineffective 2017 attempt to frame my writing push, in 2018 I focus on process and output. For each day in 43 weeks*, I draft 1,000 words (4 pages); draft uninterrupted between 5 AM and noon; ban morning Facebook and emails; micro plan, monitor & review.

You’ll note none of the “finish this or that by such-and-such date” project plans I’ve issued over the last two years and then clawed back. That doesn’t mean I won’t plan. I will and I’ll publicize in order to increase my accountability.

Tractor Big Year

Huh, you say? The working title for the book is Reactor but you don’t suck the life out of a title by using it all year. Hence Tractor, rhymes with Reactor? For each day in 43 weeks, I spend an afternoon hour researching, planning, readying for, and executing publication of Reactor.

Freshness Big Year

In 2016 I jogged a lot. This year I’ve tackled “fitness” by introducing cycling and arriving at an “exercise daily” regimen that works. Next year I’ll still exercise daily but at slightly lower intensity, plus I’ll address alcohol, diet, and insomnia.

“Freshness” is code for wellness, energy, and vigor. Note that 2018 can’t be the year to cycle huge distances, to do much tough or long-distance hiking (with one notable exception), to race, or to speed up. Instead I’m setting artificially strict regulations for 52 or 43 or 39 weeks (depending on which rule). I’m sure you’ll be amused at this quirky list:

M-W AFDs + 14 – absolutely no alcohol for the first three days of each and every week, and no more than 14 standard drinks per week.

2 alarms – each and every day, set an alarm to go to sleep and one to rise.

No snacking cheese – each and every day, stay away from cheese platters (cheese in recipes is fine).

No afternoon snacking at home – each and every day.

Stillness Big Year

“Stillness” is code for mindfulness, meditation, peacefulness, etc., etc. I could have called this the Headspace Big Year, but Headspace is a commercial product. I commit to spending 10 minutes each and every day following guided meditation according to the Headspace app.

Conclusion

Doing four Big Years flirts with overstretching but I believe I’ve structured the obsessions suitably. One big year, the most important one, carries a massive time commitment. Two of the four require an hour or two a day. The final one only takes ten minutes a day.

I’m now deep into practice for each of 2018’s four challenges, so that I can leap out of the gates on January 1.

2018 is bound to be a fascinating twelve months. I’ll do my best to make sure it’s also joyous, effective, and balanced.

* Travel and family commitments mean that, depending on which Big Year is involved, 2018 is 52 weeks or 43 weeks or 39 weeks.

Oh, I strove this year but, as someone close to me observed last night, “you’ve mastered the art of writing a book impossibly slowly.” The Writing Big Year, which was meant to provide structure and underpin a proper “plan,” sped me up but not enough. Bleak moments abounded.

But the night lifts and a sweet day unfurls, and the name of that day is 2018. This time next year I’ll toast success!